README for Robin Neri

I am Robin. My pronouns are he/him/his. Pronunciation is Rah-bin NE-ree.

At Cadence OneFive, my role is…

as a Mechanical Engineer every day, and many days that includes some Data Analyst tasks, adjusting specifics and assumptions in the data pipeline, and sometimes taking on building science Software Engineering tasks.

Who am I at Work

I have nine years of professional experience in building science at Steven Winter Associates. This involved completing energy audits, diagnostic testing to identify root causes of comfort and energy complaints, testing new technologies in air sealing and heat pumps, and providing technical analysis support to policymakers around the country as they create climate action plans.

I like digging into technical problems with the purpose of getting to a helpful solution. The world’s got a lot of problems and the building industry has its share of them. We have decades of choices driven by the wrong metrics and inherent biases that result in inefficient, polluting, occupant-harming, and expensive buildings. High carbon emissions and unhealthy tenants are a logical outcome of an optimization problem gone wrong. Hopefully the work we do creates an environment for better decision making, improving lives (human and otherwise).

Non-work

I grew up in CT, worked in MA for a few years, lived in RI, then moved to TN while going to grad school in NC. My undergrad was Mechanical Engineering, then a Master’s in Renewable Energy Engineering and Building Science, and most recently I finished up a professional certificate program in Data Science from Harvard via EdX.

  • Biking: I don’t own a car. Biking for transportation, supplemented by trains, is my preferred method. I do have to rent a car every so often and I sure love giving those back and not worrying about them anymore.

  • Athletic Activities: I’ve played a lot of soccer, everywhere I’ve lived. I wasn’t very good at my first job out of college, but I think I survived three rounds of layoffs because I participated in a athletic extracurriculars. It’s all for fun, and always has been. I’m into trail running, swimming, and strength training to keep everything else working.

  • Cooking: Every dinner is like a little experiment. Sometimes I mess up something that I got right another time. But I don’t care too much. Because I rent but really enjoy induction cooking, I do all my cooking on this portable induction cooktop.

  • Reading: I enjoy the depth and detail of books over other ways of learning. More specifically, non-fiction books about how the world (and people) works. Recent highlights: The Secret Life of Groceries, The Happiness Project, Sapiens, and An Immense World. Happy to chat about these and learn about new books.

  • Purchasing / Resource Consumption: I have been called an “informed consumer” by a salesperson (I don’t think it was a compliment). I am an underbuyer. I like to do the research, find the solution that I think has the best combination of social benefit and giving me what I need.

Learning goals

Time is short - I’m driven to learn how to do things faster, with fewer mistakes. I find this leads to better results, not just the same results faster. My current role encouraged me to learn some programming languages along with product design concepts.

Career goals

I’m lucky in that I’ve been able to carve out my role. I would be happy at this level of contribution over the long term, but with a necessity to scale climate justice work comes a need for automation or through teaching others. Right now I’m just trying to take a step back every once in a while and assess what longer term moves to make.

You can lean on me to …

  • Help you get to the root of a problem. I like brainstorming for the right questions to ask and the pathway to an answer that I can execute on to get you an answer.

  • Be realistic about what can be done and when. I’ve overpromised too many times (and still do on occasion) so I’ll try to tell you how long I think something will really take. Then I’ll work really hard to stick to that deadline.

  • Respect you. Everyone is on a different path and in a different environment and I will meet you where you are.

How to support me as we work together

  • I don’t mind being in the spotlight, but I’m not good at putting myself there. If you think I’m the person with the answer, or the right person for a certain task, volunteer me for it. If I can’t do it I’ll let you know.

  • I like recurring meetings. Let’s set up some time to check in, even asychronously, and make it a regular thing.

  • Write things down. I’m not good at taking notes in real time unless I’m detached from the conversation. We should recap with next steps / main takeaways soon after the end of a work session. Meeting recaps for the last few minutes of a meeting are good too (as long as I write them down).

How to support me as a person

  • I have cats and can’t predict when they’ll jump on my desk.

  • I do like to take walking breaks. If we can integrate some walk-friendly meetings, I’d probably enjoy that.

  • Weather permitting, I like to work outside. So I might take a meeting outside. I’ll be discerning about when and where and meeting participants, given the noise and lighting glare outside.

  • The Daniel Pink book When really helped me figure out an effective work schedule. For example, most people (but not all) have an afternoon slump and a 9:5 work schedule involves doing a lot of work during that slump. I may take more breaks in the afternoon to get through a slump where work quality was suffering.

Feedback preferences

I like when my assumptions, shortcuts, or word choices are questioned. Real time is good. Asynchronously is just as good. I’m going to take it seriously and may take some time to process it and figure out a path forward.